As I was perusing the innards of Apple Music looking for new albums, I found “Gris Klein” around the corner, by the diaphragm in the “Punk” category. French post-hardcore trio Birds In Row recently released their latest studio album on Friday, Oct. 14, with lyrics in English. I haven’t fully submerged in the vat of hardcore, and I don’t exactly intend to, yet amid the noise and brutality, a quaint form of solace is met. I hand-picked a few favorite tracks of mine, and attempted to discern a meaning behind each one, from my own viewpoint.
The first track off the record, “Water Wings,” brings a ferocious attack among a serene intermission. It is an exploration of a tunneling loneliness; an internal battle on an empty street. The fuzzy tone of “Noah” is a continuation, a trail of an influence above you, the story of a black hole as you move past the horizon of surviving events.
The theme of internal struggle encompasses “Gris Klein,” the track “Grisaille” paints the monochromatic gray of your oversized outfit. The triumphantly melancholic canvas of infinite grays hangs around your neck on the bridge, held up by twine. A following sense of acceptance of “Trompe L’oeil” sculpts a visual illusion of an individualist perception of the world. The pain of disassociation is countered with guttural screams, soft and repetitive ambience turned to a questioning inferno, toes on the edge creating a shadow in a crevasse.
“Gris Klein” is a record of expressive colors and art. Forms swirling in snow all about you, a vast selection of a metaphorical use of understanding and keeping the wolf from the unlocked door of your conscious. Discovering your struggles and coupling with the dissatisfaction with society, “Gris Klein” is bundled into an 11-track record of modernized noise rock. Check out Birds In Row if you find yourself in Europe.